I'm Too Young to be Tired
by VigilantSempai
Summary: Losing his powers seamed to be a reoccurring thing. First Byakuya then to Aizen, Ginjō was just the latest on the list but this time he decided to simply let it be. He was done being a hero. Or so he thought, but Fate seemed to disagree, and suddenly he's under the spotlight of not one but several overpowered interests. Sounds familiar.
1. Chapter 1

AN: Hey guys, Vigilant Sempai here with another story, this time a Bleach- Fate/Stay Night crossover. Before we start I feel I should say that, unlike pretty much everything else that I write about, I am not super knowledgeable about the Type Moon Fandom. I've only watched Fate/Stay Night and I know that that is only _one_ of the possible outcomes for the Fifth Grail War.

Honestly that shit is broken.

Now I took several liberties with _Bleach_ , namely Ichigo's age and what school he'd in. While he's still fifteen, initially, and he still lives in Karakura, the story is going to take place right after he exits middle school. Basically, I'm cramming Ichigo's meeting with Rukia to the start of his third year in middle school and letting the series continue normally from there on until after he loses his powers. After that, Xcusion isn't going to wait seventeen months to contact Ichigo, instead it's only going to be one month.

I know it's pretty big changes, but I wanted Ichigo to have time mixing with the elements from the Type-Moon verse, and interact with key people.

Anyway, now that we have my changes out of the way, please read and enjoy. Fair warning though, this story is going to be slow.

 **Disclaimer: I do not own** _ **Naruto**_ **or** _ **Fate/Stay Night**_ **. I do not make any money from this**

* * *

 _If I were the rain…_

 _That binds together the Earth and the Sky, whom in all eternity will never mingle…_

 _Would I be able to bind two hearts together?_

 _(-Tite Kubo)_

* * *

 **Monday, February 17** **th** **, 2014**

It was the guitar that caught Ichigo's eye. It wasn't particularly impressive, with a visible tarnish and wear on it even through the display glass, but it still drew his attention. He didn't know much about guitars only a couple of cords that Chad managed to teach him, and the fact that it was actually pretty hard to play, at least initially. It sat in a display case, an old school record player on it's right, and two mannequins dressed in mismatched clothes on it left.

He paused, deftly step siding the woman who had been walking behind him as he glanced up at the sign that hung above the door.

 _Ricky's Pawn and Parts_.

Another sign hung on the glass. ' _Out-of-business sale! Buy one, get two free.'_ It was a square building, made out of grey stone with a single large display windows on either side of the wooden door. After reading the sign Ichigo felt kind of curious about the place, and, once he glanced up at the grey English sky above him, made his way inside.

Ichigo's first though when he stepped inside was that it was warm, significantly warmer than the February winds outside, and immediately started unzipping his jacket. The majority if the shop was taken up by racks of clothes of all shapes and sizes. In the back of the store, from what he could see, was dedicates to random knickknacks, while directly to his right he was an odd assortment of antique pieces of technology, mostly polaroid cameras, that came straight from the early to mid 80's. The middle of the right wall was taken up by a couple of cash registers, though he couldn't see anybody working in the store.

The teen made his way further into the store, glancing at the clothes on the racks as he passed. There was some pretty good things in the store, hidden behind scores of mediocre products that were obviously worn. He had just come across a hat that looked like it had been worn on Sherlock Holmes' head when a voice sounded out behind him.

"Can'na help yah?"

It had been more than two months since Ichigo's last fight, and even longer before then, but he had lived his life constantly fighting the thugs in Karakura and in the surrounding towns, and so, was still constantly primed. Whirling around, the teen clenched his fist, arm muscles tensing as he prepared to throw a punch, but managed to stop himself once he realised that he didn't see anybody behind him.

Confusion quickly overcame his shock and surprise. Was he just hearing things? Or maybe it was a ghost. Probably not, he always saw the ghosts whenever he heard them. Plus he didn't even have his powers and he would have known if he even got a small portion of them back. His eyes slowly roved around the store, checking for any disturbances or anything out of place but couldn't fi-

"Oi!" A voice yelled, causing Ichigo to jump. "Down 'ere ya o're grown weed!" His eyes immediately found the source of the noise, the source causing Ichigo to deadpan at having been scared.

She was short, over five feet tall but by no more than three inches. A nest of curly red hair rested in her head, falling down to her just below her shoulders, though he was sure that it would go well down her back at its full length. Freckles spotted her cheeks and bridged over a small button nose and up onto her forehead. Her lips were set in an indignant line, and her grey eyes were boring into him with barely suppressed anger.

A small silence spread between the two before Ichigo spoke.

"Sorry, I looked right over you," he said in english.

"Ya fuckin' o'er grown bastard!" She shouted as she kicked the teen in the shin, causing Ichigo to hop around on one leg while clutching the other.

"The hell was that for!?" he yelled angrily gingerly letting his leg back down onto the floor.

"Ya joked 'bout me height!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"If I was going to make fun of your height, I'd call you a shorty!" His comment got him another kick in the shin and a front seat to the creation of some colourful curse words. Ichigo was about to retort (making a guess at to what kind of creatures her parents were) but managed to master himself enough to not insult the girl. "I just wanna buy the guitar," he groused out, wondering if he could get away with kicking a midget in the face while in a foreign country.

Surprisingly enough the brute's demeanour changed from fiery anger, to inquisitive. "Ya play?" Ichigo nodded slowly, wary of her quick change. The girl hummed eyeing him. "Ah dunno. It's me ol' guitar. Ah won't give em to jus' anyone."

He didn't real play, but Chad had told him about keeping the instrument in good condition. It wasn't like he was gonna fight super hard to get the guitar, it had been a completely spur of the moment decision and he was already regretting coming into the store. But it was almost a matter of pride now, he wasn't just gonna leave because of some short short-tempered girl decided to kick him in the shins. Kurosaki Ichigo wouldn't be run off that easily.

The redhead looked at him for several seconds before grunting and glancing away. "Fine, ya gonna get anyting else?"

Ichigo shrugged. "I don't know. I'm going to look around." The girl grunted and walked away, and Ichigo took the time to take a watch her make her way to the front of the store before heading deeper into the back. The rear of the store was surprisingly more diverse than he thought it'd be. There was a small section of bookshelves that contained well worn books that Ichigo took a couple minutes perusing before moving to the other and moved to the more interesting part of the back: a weapons section.

Most of the stuff there was old and probably wouldn't work unless they had a major cleaning and maintenance job done. About half of it was firearms: flintlock pistols, repeater rifles, old bayonets, and even a couple of bows that looked that looked like they would break if anyone tries to pull the string. The teen mostly ignored them, instead focusing on the other sections of the weapons part: the swords.

Having been a shinigami, Ichigo developed quite an eye and interest for swords. While he couldn't discern anything in depth like whoever created said sword and what era they lived in and the technique used to make the sword, he could tell the difference between a sword that was mass produced and one that took time to make. Most of the swords that were on display, while sharp and straight (basic qualities necessary in a sword), were flimsy and would undoubtedly chip and break in a fight. And while that was possible for all swords, the probability of it happening was undoubtedly higher just by the sheer mediocrity of the blades. Most of the swords were simple broadswords that the english were known for, though he did spot a single curved sword that the ancient Egyptians were known to use, and even two japanese swords in sheaths.

Naturally, he took a look at those two.

The first was a typical katana with a black sheath with gold designs on it, too small and condensed for Ichigo to get a good idea of what the symbols were without a long and close look. The sword itself lacked a tsuba and the wooden hilt didn't have the typical tsuka-ito that other katana's did, so the sword looked like a long stick when it was sheathed. Grasping the hilt, Ichigo unsheathed the blade slightly, gazing over the surprisingly pristine blade with a newfound respect for it. While the blade wasn't anything overly impressive it still was a better blade than the others he had seen.

The blade was darker in color than the typical light grey of steel, with a slight curve, and wickedly sharp looking edge. He could see part of his reflection on the blade;a small lock of orange hair falling over the bridge of his nose and two light brown eyes that stared back at him. He stared for a bit, before huffing slightly and sheathing the sword again and set it back in his stand. Before picking up the next one, a kodachi.

Unlike the katana, the sheath for the blade was simple, wood dyed black, and the hilt possessed both a tsuba, slightly dulled bronze, and black wrappings for the tsuka-ito. It looked simple, and, at a glance, Ichigo was almost positive that the blade would be of the same quality as the one he'd looked at below, so he had to gasp in surprise when he unsheathed the full blade.

He knew he wasn't an expert on swords, but anybody who took any interest in swords knew about the distinguished ripple pattern of the processes of 'folding' when it came to sword forging. He had once been told that the swords of all captain level shinigami in Soul Society had the distinct pattern as a symbol of reaching the captain level status needed, and apparently symbolised the connection one had to their soul. The blade, while short, was beautiful with grey steel with an almost bluish tint to it, with the tail tell tipple pattern of a high quality blade. As he gazed at it, Ichigo was almost sure that he saw several distinct sections on the blade.

All in all it was the best blade he ever laid eyes on that wasn't from Soul Society and left him curious as to how it was stuck in the back of a pawn shop in England and not in some museum somewhere.

He gazed at the blade for a couple of seconds contemplating whether he should get the blade or not before quickly deciding against it. Not only would he provably not be able to afford it, seeing as it was an awesome sword, but he was probably unable to carry a sword around in a foreign country at the age of fifteen.

Not to mention he'd have to explain why he had a sword to his family while they were packing, and to the airport security as well.

Reluctantly he set the blade back into its slot on the stand before turning and heading back to the small section of books.

' _It's a good thing I don't get it,'_ he told himself as he absentmindedly perused some medical books. ' _Swords are for a different time, a different me. It'll just lead to painful memories…'_ He grasped a book at random, a worn leather bound one, pulling it from the shelf and flipped it open to skim the contents. At first glance, it looked like a journal and Ichigo was about to set it back in its place on the shelf when he saw a roughly drawn diagram of a chemical reaction along with several complicated equation.

He flipped to the front intrigued, skimming the entry and contents, noting several reference to medicine and procedures that he knew were commonplace before modern technology came around. His interest piqued Ichigo started read several lines from the bottom.

' _... and while the procedure for Jenkins was a success, the inconsistencies and difficulties that the staff were presented with by Mr. Jenkins person before my timely arrival leaves me curious and almost wonting. I had to use a higher form of understanding of the human body to correctly and accurately, diagnose and isolate the clot that would have killed the mister. The success of the operation leaves me with the desire to complete my own works, for it has only encouraged my beliefs that the answers lies within._

 _~H.J._

 _P.s. The voices have stopped for the time being, but only by injections directly to the blood and then only for 48 hours. I theorize dilution to the solution and increase the dosages would increase longevity.'_

That was interesting. Ichigo had lived his life in an emergency clinic, and while it was rare that there was an emergency, he wasn't unfamiliar with helping his dad with a client. Something his father had done only because he had expressed his desire to be a doctor. Nothing serious, just a couple of check ups on young patients starting a few years ago, and a couple of bone settings and stitches. Just by reading the end of the entry, Ichigo was sure that he was reading the diary of a long dead doctor. The book could be helpful, seeing as it would give him a firsthand understanding of the life of a doctor, but also knowledge on what he would have to go through, possibly. Not to mention the diagram that he had seen he was sure he could crack by going over his chemistry books.

Tucking the book under his arm, Ichigo made his way to the cash register snagging a white scarf with orange lions on it as he went. Yuzu would like it. The redhead was already behind the counter, reading a thick looking book while she waited for him. She must have heard him approaching, as she looked up before he got close enough to clear his throat polighty.

"Find everyt'ing ya want?" she asked. Ichigo, seeing the guitar off the the side half out of it's case, nodded.

"Yeah," he said placing the book and scarf on the counter. How much do I owe you?"

"25 pounds," she replied, causing Ichigo to wince internally. That would nearly wipe him out of what he had on him, and he'd be forced to ask his dad for money later. His only saving grace was that he was still within walking distance of the hotel that he and his family had been staying at for the last month.

Hesitating only slightly, Ichigo fished out his wallet, and passed over the money. He watched as she counted it, before grunting, this time in satisfaction, and stuffing it in the register. She quickly zipped the guitar case shut and hefted it up by a strap and handed it over to him. "Thank you, please come again, she said blandly.

Ichigo nodded. Right. He grabbed the guitar, zipped up his jacket, slipping the book/journal into an internal pocket, before swinging the instrument onto his back and wrapping the scarf around his neck. "Thanks," he grunted before heading toward the door and outside into the cold English air.

* * *

"Ichigo."

The teen started from his position on his temporary bed. It was night now, and it had been several hours since he had any time to himself. Yuzu true to form had bombarded him with questions on his whereabouts as soon as he stepped into the hotel, then had glomped him when he gave her the scarf, talking in the rapid pace that only girls were capable of. Karin, in a moment of uncharacteristic childishness, had pouted slightly and asked where her present was. Having been forced to confess that he didn't have one, Ichigo spent the next several hours helping Karin practice football (soccer for those Americans out there) in a nearby park. When they got back, he hadn't been given a respite, Yuzu convinced him to help her with dinner. He had then been stuck at the table with his man-child father who had taken to attempting to attack him even while eating. After scarfing down his food, Ichigo had begged off to his room for a shower and some time alone. He'd managed to get through the shower unaccosted (thank the gods for small mercies) but had only been reading for five minutes when his name had been called.

The journal that he was reading, the one he picked up from the pawn shop, was actually quite vexing with the older english writing and vague references to a different ' _higher_ ' type of understanding Ichigo was actually getting slightly temperamental. It was only the fact that he was so good at english and was use to the older, almost Shakespearean speak from said man's works, that he was able to make heads or tails if anything. And even then he had too constant backtrack and double check his understanding of what was written before. And he hadn't even gotten to any if the medical/ chemical diagrams yet! He'd have to take notes in a notebook to keep it all straight.

His dad stood in the doorway, messy black hair and scrubby goat-chin and all, looking uncharacteristically serious. He squirmed under Ichigo's gaze, something he'd been doing for a month-and-a-half now, fiddling with the hem of his white shirt for a couple of seconds before shoving his hands into his jeans, signing.

A silence stretched between the two, growing longer than necessary. It would have gone on if Ichigo hadn't sighed in exasperation.

"What do you want, goat-chin?" he asked into the silence. He watched as his father flinched and turned his head to look outside the window. A light rain, for England, was falling making the yellow light from the street lamps look like balls of fire from their water-distorted view.

Isshin sighed again. "How was your day, son?"

"Fine," he replied, eyebrow raised. His father had never really taken an interest in Ichigo's everyday life, preferring to check up on him every couple of months, while filling the time in between with flying fists and feet. Something was wrong, and Ichigo was sure he wasn't going to like what he found out.

"Just fine?" Isshin asked a sly smile growing on his face. "It took you awhile to get back to our room, maybe you found a girl…" An image if the angry demon-redhead from the pawn shop flashed into his mind, and Ichigo had to resist the urge to scowl. That would just prove his father right, no matter how wrong he was.

"What do you want, old man?" Ichigo snapped without much heat. "I'm trying to read here."

Isshin's face grew serious again and he pulled out a silver card from his pocket. A credit card, Ichigo realized just before Isshin flicked it at him. The younger Kurosaki caught it on reflex, glaring at his dad.

"The hell is this for?" the teen asked, ready to verbally, and physically, rip his father a new one, but was halted by his next words.

"It's from Soul Society." The room was suddenly deadly still and silent, and Ichigo tunnel-visioned onto Isshin. "It's supposed to be a gift in recognition of your service as a Substitute Shinigami, and all you've done for Soul Society. There's a lot of money on there."

"I don't want money!" Ichigo snapped, this time very much heated. He hadn't done anything for money. All he ever done was fight to protect his friends, his family. It wasn't because he wanted some cash or recognition, but because he didn't actually have a choice in the matter. And now they wanted to say 'thanks' even though they hadn't been there when he needed them? Even when he was there whenever they were in a situation that they couldn't get themselves out of!? He didn't want the money, dammit! He wanted his pow-

An empty, aching pain in his chest resurfaced. A pain that was constantly there; a pain that he was used to ignoring so well that the only time he remembered it was there was when he was forced to look at it as he was now. Forced to stare into the empty gaping hole that was his soul; a hole that represented all that he had lost: his mother, his powers, friends, allies, his powers…

It had always been there, like a hollow-hole that couldn't be seen by anyone, human or shinigami, but now it was growing, and he felt as if he was having his chain-of-fate eaten again, only this time it was constantly, and there was no end within sight.

"I don't want it," the orange haired teen said, moving to throw it back at his father who lifted his hands up in surrender to stop him.

"You don't gotta," he said. "But it up to you to do with it what you will. Keep it, throw it away, cut it up, shit, give it to a homeless person for all I care, but it's your's. You gotta do whatever you want with it, not me." The black haired man turned to leave pausing when his hand touched the handle. "I'm proud of you, just so you know."

He left after that, closing the door soft behind him. Ichigo glared at the door, then at the card in his hands, then at the book on the bed and grunted angrily. Tossing the card onto the nightstand, the teen snapped the book shut; he wouldn't be able to read any more tonight. He stood from the bed and started pacing, crossing from one end of the room to the other, thinking heavily.

He really didn't want to keep the card, not only was it a hollow, impersonal gift, but it wasn't even a gift. Not really. Others might see it as what his father said, a thank you for cleansing hollows and fighting traitorous captains, bounts and a plethora of other enemies, but he knew what it really was.

An apology.

He didn't have to do what he did. After he had defeated Aizen, they (the shinigami) had realized just how much they had been slacking and how much of that slack he was picking up. He didn't _have_ to clean up hollows in Karakura town, there was a shinigami there for that. He didn't have to invade Soul Society to save Rukia and subsequently expose Aizen as a traitor, Rukia probably would have been released once Aizen's manipulations had been revealed, yet still he did. He didn't have to be the vanguard that went to Hueco Mundo, when they could have gotten off their collective asses and done what needed to be done.

And most of all, he didn't have to give up his powers to defeat Aizen. He could have just let the madman make the Soul Key or whatever and be done with it.

If only he hadn't involved Karakura town.

If only he hadn't involved Orihime and his friends.

If only he hadn't involved his sisters.

But, in the end, Aizen had, and he was forced to pick up the slack of the shinigami that had deteriorated since the time of Old Man Yamamoto and Ukitake apparently.

He sighed in frustration, focusing on the irritating emotion to ignore the hollow feeling in his chest whenever he thought about anything Shinigami related. He'd check and see how much money was on the card tomorrow, he decided, but right now he needed something to distract him. His eyes landed on the book again but he quickly discarded that idea. He wasn't in the mood for medical reading/ english deciphering. He could always go to sleep, but the thought was tossed out as soon as it came. Sleep ment dreams, and dreams ment remembering, something he didn't want. His eyes landed on the guitar that rested in the corner, and Ichigo felt his lips twitch upwards.

Why the hell not?

* * *

 **Tuesday, February 18** **th** **, 2014**

 _£20,721,674. 21_

Ichigo nearly choked on his saliva when he saw the number, probably would have too, if he wasn't so dumbstruck by the absurdly high number. How in the hell did Soul Society even get Human World currency? And why the hell was that number so absurdly high!? There was no way that killing all those hollows were worth that much money!

The orange-haired teen quickly regained his senses, at least for someone in his position, and ejected his card from the ATM machine making sure that the information was wiped off the digital screen before he turned and started walking down the street in a random direction. It was noon, the day after he had gotten his card and Ichigo had been allowed to sleep in. His father had pulled the twins out early to go sight seeing and help Karin, who still had troubles speaking english fluently, perfect her speech. Now he was walking down some street, slightly delirious about the phenomenon he had just witnessed.

He turned into a random shop, thoughts still a whirlwind as he let his feet lead him. What in the hell was he suppose to do with all that money? Presents for Karin and Yuzu were sure to be expensive in the future, but what else? Sure he could use it to get a car or something or save for his inevitable college debt, but that would probably raise some red flags somewhere in the world government, and if not there then definitely to his sisters. If they started asking too many questions and pestering him enough, he'd eventually be found out if he didn't fold under the power of their combined puppy dog eyes (by the gods was that a fearsome technique). He shuddered at the thought.

Karin would be conservative enough about it, exploiting his wealth sparingly but in large quantities.

Yuzu though…

Ichigo shuddered again. The amount of stuffed animals and ice cream he'd be forced to buy would undoubtedly leave him as poor as before.

Idly Ichigo wondered if he could travel the world, causing him to blink in momentary surprise at the stray thought, that actually had some merit to it. Despite how dower he had been over the last month, his time in England had been extremely enjoyable, and Ichigo could honestly say that he would look back on his time on the rainy island fondly, in spite of the dark occurrence that caused this whole vacation in the first place.

"Can I help you sir?"

The orange haired teen snapped back into reality, looking around quickly realizing he was in a café by the earthy smell in the air and warm atmosphere. Turning back to the woman in front of him, a willowy blonde, Ichigo cleared his throat. "Right, could I get some hot chocolate?" he asked.

"What size would you like?" the girl asked, pressing the screen in front of her several times.

"A medium." The girl nodded, pressing some more on the screen before telling him a price, but Ichigo just handed her his new card. One swipe later and Ichigo was standing off to the side waiting for his drink.

He had never really given any thought to traveling the world. Sure, there had been a couple conversations on the roof of his school during lunch where the guys had spoken about all the places they had wanted to go (they had stopped when Keigo said he wanted to go to the nudist beaches in France) and he probably would have given it more thought, but then Rukia had appeared and-

"Oi, move it carrot-top!"

Ichigo instinctively frowned, cursing how everyone seemed to think it was okay to address him by his hair color. Turning to give the offending person a piece of his mind, maybe even throwing in a couple Japanese insults, the teen pulled up short at seeing the empty space. Was he hearing things? Or maybe ghosts? No, he was always able to see ghosts whenever he heard them. A sense of dêja vu hit Ichigo, literally, when a foot connected to his shin.

"Down 'ere ya walkin' fruit!"

Forcing himself to not react to the pain in his leg, Ichigo slowly lowered his gaze until he found himself looking into indignant face of the girl from yesterday. Her hair was just as fiery and untamed and her face was flushed a slight red, either from her time in the cold English air or from high emotions.

"Oh, it's you," he said getting another kick to his shin for his troubles, in the same spot as before.

"Don' 'it's ya' me!" She replied. "Get atta ta way."

Ichigo grit his teeth against the sudden spike in pain. What the hell was with this girl? You don't kick someone you just met, no matter how annoying they are to you. At least he waited a full week before he started clotheslining Keigo for the first time. His mouth opened, ready to deliver a scathing retort but he was cut off before he could even start.

"Stop it, Millie," another voice said, causing both Ichigo and the now named Millie to turn to see the blond server approaching with a cup in her hands. "You're causing a scene. You can wait outside if you want to flirt with your boyfriend."

Ichigo's eyebrows shot up in surprise at the girl's audacious statement. Opening his mouth to deny her statement, the orange-haired teen was cut off _again_ by an angry yell.

"Tis pretty boy ain't my boyfriend," she yelled, kicking Ichigo in his shin again.

In.

The.

Exact.

Same.

Spot.

Ichigo let out a groan, that sounded more like a threatening growl, glaring at the seething demon next to him. Could he get away with killing her? Probably not, but jail didn't sound half as bad as it did before he met the infuriating redhead. No, he couldn't kill her. Not yet at least. There were too many people around… unless he wanted to get rid of all the witnesses as well.

Maybe he could get away with claiming it was self-defense.

"Your drink,sir."

Giving one last scowl to his small attacker, Ichigo grabbed his hot chocolate and left a slight limp in his walk. He didn't even get two sips into his silent seething when an increasingly familiar voice called out to him from behind.

"Oi, mistah Orange!"

Ichigo slowed to a stop, breathing deeply to master himself. This girl really was trying to get on his nerves. Still, the Japanese were a polite people, and no matter how much of a delinquent people thought he was, he still at least listened when people had something to say to him. Sometimes.

He turned fixing the girl with a blank scowl. "Yes?"

Her face showed naked surprise for a second, before quickly morphing into a slight frown. "Yer new to ta area, ain't cha?"

Well that was true enough, so Ichigo nodded, a single eyebrow raised questioningly.

"Ya seen ta sights yet?"

Now Ichigo was really curious. Not only was the monster-child being nice (at least as nice as she could be) to him, but was actually holding a conversation with him that didn't involve her kicking him in the shin. For a second, Ichigo toyed with the thought that it was some type of scam, but quickly discarded it. No scam would start with kicking people in the leg and then gaining their trust.

Actually… that would be a pretty good con.

Still, he couldn't help but doubt that she was trying to pull something over his eyes, just by looking at her. Dressed in a green jacket, jeans ripped on her thighs and shins, and sneakers while standing hands on hip and head cocked to the side slightly. Couple with her demure stature, she was about the most nonthreatening person he probably ever seen. But then again Rukia and Hiyori had been little devils that looked like a fifteen year old girl and a short, angry, blond-haired mop (respectively). What really got him to reply was her stormy grey eyes. They were way too open for there to be anything but sincerity in there.

"A couple," he replied, into the silence that had stretched between them while he had been scrutinising her. "I'm here on vacation with my family."

"Yeh?" She questioned. "Where ya from?"

Ichigo took a sip of his hot chocolate, turning to start walking again. "Japan." He kept walking for a couple of seconds stopping when he didn't hear her footsteps. Turning around he saw her still in the same spot looking at him, a peculiar expression on her face. "You coming?"

He didn't know who was more surprised at the offer, him or her, but he didn't really dwell on it. He was pretty much going to be alone for the whole day, and she had made the effort to stop him, so he might as well take a chance. Sure his shin still throbbed, but she wouldn't be the first temperamental midget he had ever hung around.

The girl, Millie, stared at him for a couple more seconds, before grinning slightly and making her way over. "Japan ya say? Ya speak english pretty good."

He took a sip from his steaming cup to cover up the fact he had opened his mouth to correct her grammar, using that time to formulate a response. "I read a lot of Shakespeare," he said turning once again to walk, before glancing over at the girl again. "I'm Ichigo, by the way."

She nodded. "Millie."

* * *

 **Tuesday, February 25** **th** **,2014**

Ichigo found himself thoroughly enjoying himself the week he met Millie, marking it as the most fun he'd had in years, not that he ever tell her. She'd either hold it over his head or take it the wrong way and kick him in the shin.

The days following their encounter at the café, Millie had kept true to her offer and had taken him all over London to see the major tourist attractions as well as several smallest ones. The small redhead was surprisingly a wealth of information on history. And not just English, but Middle Eastern, Chinese, and even Japanese. Traveling around the city with her led to Ichigo obtaining several small nuggets of information that were pretty interesting.

She had even taken him out to Glastonbury Abbey, the rumoured resting place of King Arthur, two days ago, which had been a pretty cool experience, despite the several hour long train ride.

They had learned a lot about each other, as was to be expected when meeting new people. Mille was, funnily enough, almost two years older than him (though she refused to tell him her birthday), and was a junior in highschool, the equivalent of his high school second year. She had nearly had a heart attack when he had told her he was still fifteen (and just to spite her a little, he hadn't told her when his birthday was). She was an only child, and her parents had died years ago, leaving her in the custody of her infirm grandfather who was currently rather sick with a mysterious illness.

Apparently they didn't have the money to get him properly diagnosed, and were hoping that he would pull through long enough for Millie to get to her eighteenth birthday. When Ichigo had offered for him or his dad to take a look, Millie had refused, saying that he had made his peace. He had learned early on that she was more stubborn than him on certain things, and so he didn't push too hard.

Ichigo sighed, pulling his thoughts back to the notebook in front of him. He had finally managed to get through a good portion of the journal (that just happened to be frustratingly sparse on the author's name past H.J.), and had finally come across the first scientific equation, or rather a list of ingredients with numbers, presumably amounts needed. It was all rather simple minerals, salts mostly, with a single solvent to act as the base. Next to the journal sat several sheets of paper where he had attempted to figure out the correct equation to see if it would work. Luckily for him, chemistry was something he was rather good at and it only took him five sheets of paper to figure out the correct quantities, that while similar to the ones detailed in the journal, still made a difference. Ichigo knew that if the slightest mistake was made when making any chemical solution could lead to drastic changes, from making an acid to even causing an explosion, which had him worried as the original owner of the journal had been _drinking_ the incorrect solution.

Frowning, the orange-haired teen turned from his own equations and back to H.J.'s journal which had been left open to read the passage again.

' _The above listed is the original minerals I first accumulated, as well as the total grams used in each successful concoction creation. The solution still grants me a certain measure of hesitance, as the solvent has been known to be corrosive in impure and unregulated doses. Still, despite my worry, the solution continues to be a successful concoction, and I find my once deep seated concerns rapidly fading away._

 _The continued success of the concoction, which I now dub the H-1 solution as it would be tedious continuing to scribe concoction, had allowed me valuable time to pursue several other fields of study. I have taken this chance to, first, study and analyze the human body with a higher understanding, and have recently taken a chance to put theory into practice. Significant improvement was immediately recognised. Not only was operation time drastically decreased, but Mr. Thomas shows absolutely zero signs of ever having been sick!_

 _My colleagues managed, rather impressively in fact, to offer congratulations and praise through their jealousy and bewilderment. Lanyon even gone as far to say-'_

Ichigo's phone suddenly started ringing, causing him to start a little. Recognising the number after a second, Ichigo carefully set the business card he had been using as a bookmark in place, he picked up the phone swiping the screen quickly.

"Yo, Millie," he started, grinning slightly. "Shouldn't you be-"

" _Ichigo."_

He stopped, the light glow that had bloomed in his chest dimming as he scowled. She never called him by his name. Whenever she had to talk to him she always called him 'ya o'er grown weed' or something equally insulting, but never had she called him Ichigo. Not only that but her voice had been thick and rough and, dare he say, hesitant.

" _Ichigo,"_ she said again, followed by a sniffle, something that made Ichigo frown deepen. " _C-"_ she stopped once again, sniffling.

"Where are you," he asked, making a quick decision.

" _... Ta café."_

"I'll be right there, don't move."

" ' _Kay."_

Ending the call, Ichigo stood, placing his phone on his desk and heading over to the dresser. It was one in the afternoon, but he hadn't expected to leave the room for another hour-and-a-half at the earliest so he was still in his sleep wear. Not even five minutes later he was fully dressed, phone and wallet pocketed and his hood pulled over his head. He slipped a keycard off the kitchen counter as he passed before shoving his feet into his shoes and bending over to tie them.

"I'm heading out for a bit," he called to Karin who was the only one in at the moment beside him. "I'll be back before it gets too late."

A distant okay was his reply, but that was all Ichigo needed to hear and he set out.

 **-** **斬月** **-**

He found Millie in back of the café, in the booth furthest into the store. Even from a distance Ichigo could tell her hair was more unruly than usual. Scowling harder, Ichigo slipped between the tables intent on getting to his clearly distraught friend. Under similar circumstances in a different time, he would have stopped dead in his tracks, startled and uncomfortable at calling the feisty redhead a friend after only a week of knowing her. But that was before Gingō and Xcution happened. Before his father had started treating him like glass, and before his friends-

She noticed him as he stepped next to the table, and Ichigo quickly noticed how depleted she looked. She was leaning against the wall, hunched slightly into herself, arms wrapped around her midriff, fingers digging into the flesh of her sides through the crease of her school uniform. She turned her head slightly, red rimmed eyes instinctively finding the nearest presence, and Ichigo inwardly cursed when she stiffened like a cornered animal.

When his sisters had gone through their own grieving process, the teen had become rather adept at noticing his females reacted when someone attempted to comfort them. Yuzu was a clingy cryer, holding onto Ichigo or her twin in a vice-like grip until her tears ran their course and she fell asleep where she could snuggle up to the warmest thing in the immediate vicinity. Karin,on the other hand, was a bottle-er. She took everything in, letting it pass her by, never really getting angry or frustrated, until she reacher her limit. Usually, she got angry and started shouting and throwing things until her anger burned away, but on the rare occasions that she broke down and cried, she always tried to stop her tears as soon as possible while shying away from contact but melting as soon as he wrapped her up in his arms.

If Ichigo was a betting man, he would have pegged Millie as a ' _Karin,'_ shying away from contact but internally, desperately craving it. But then again, there were people like Tatsuki, who actually hated people touching them when they broke down. Millie could very well be a person like that, judging just by the way she reacted to seeing him. But then why would she call him? Not to mention all the times she had instinctively grabbed his arm and pulled him somewhere or even kicked him. Should he take the chance? Would their budding friendship if did? What if he didn't?

All this raced through his mind in the second after their eyes meet and Ichigo abruptly came to a decision.

Better to try and fail, than to not try at all.

He quickly slipped into her side of the booth, skidding in about halfway before reaching out and pulling her to his chest. She stiffened even more under his touch, and for a single everlasting instant, Ichigo had assumed he was wrong and she would start screaming at him, but she didn't. She stilled, becoming stiff as a board, before she relaxed and molded herself to him as she buried her face into his shoulder in an attempt to stifle her sobs. She shook in his arms, but he just tightened his arms around her gently rubbing her back, staying silent all the while.

It took a while for Millie to calm down, her tears soaking through his hoodie, but he didn't really care about it, focusing more on the obviously distraught girl in his arms. Something big had happened, and the orange-haired teen had a pretty good guess of what. He was sure that he and Millie were getting odd looks from the customers in the café, but he ignored them, instead he focused on soothing the redhead in his arms and letting her have her time to collect herself.

Slowly, her sobs quieted and her body stopped shaking. He felt her take a deep breath, exhaling shakily, before taking another. The process repeated itself over and over again until she was breathing (relatively) normally. It was several minutes later, when he felt her sigh and press closer to him that he realized she'd fallen asleep. Amused slightly, despite himself, Ichigo let her sleep for a couple of minutes before waving over a waitress.

"How can I help, sir?" She asked her voice politely lowered. Something, Ichigo was grateful for.

"Can I get a glass of warm milk?" He requested, his voice equally lowered. "And some honey?" For some weird reason, the waitress smiled brightly, as if he had paid her a huge compliment, before nodding and heading off. Curious, but not too intrigued, Ichigo watched her for a moment before glancing down at his sleeping friend, who looked admittedly adorable when she wasn't scowling at him.

The drink he requested came soon enough, complete with a bottle of honey, shaped like a bear, and a spoon. Lips twitching slightly, Ichigo, careful not to jostle Millie to consciousness, slid the drink closer to him, popped the tab on the honey and poured a generous amount into the milk. He had learned pretty early that Millie had a sweet tooth that could rival Yuzu on her best (or worse) days. Stirring lightly, he reached out and grabbed a couple of napkins from the dispenser.

"Millie," he said lowly, gently rubbing her back.

She hummed in response.

"Millie," he tried again, smirking slightly. "Millie it's time to get up." She groaned again, but sat up slightly, giving Ichigo room to move. Her grey eyes were staring in incomprehension at the café around her. Gently grasping her chin, Ichigo turned her face to him, using a napkin to wipe away the tears on her still wet cheeks. "Here," he said pulling away and pushing the warm milk into her hands. "Drink."

Millie stared at him more, her eyes slowly wandering to the drink in her hand, before she raised it slowly and sipped lightly. She sighed. He smiled lightly.

A compatible silence fell between them, and even though Ichigo was aware of her side pressed against his, and his arm wrapped around her waist he couldn't bring himself to move. It felt nice, and she hadn't said anything about it. He split his time watching the people through the window on a typical cloudy day, and gazing at Millie. Soon enough, the milk was gone and the sun was setting.

"Grandpa died today."

It was her first words to him since he got there, but he couldn't find it in himself to be surprised. He had known about her infirm guardian, and had come to the conclusion as soon as he heard her voice over the phone. Still he didn't say anything, just gently gave her hip a squeeze, and inhaled deeply, taking in her scent of cinnamon and apples.

Another silence stretched between them.

She broke the silence again. "C-could ya come ta my flat?" She asked hesitantly. "I don't wanna-"

"Yeah."

 **-** **斬月** **-**

Ichigo managed to slip inside the hotel room at around two in the morning.

Millie had turned out to be rather clingy when she cried, and as soon as he had gotten her to her flat, she'd broken down again. He didn't fault her for crying; losing anyone, not matter how much time you had in advance to prepare, was hard. He'd cried for days after his mother passed, and Yuzu was inconsolable at the funeral service. Karin had random bouts of depression, and, in spite of his antics, Ichigo had caught his father staring vacantly at the shrine if Kurosaki Masaki on more than a dozen occasions. It had taken years for the Kurosaki family to get to where they were, having their own tears along the way, so Ichigo didn't particularly mind that Millie had left his shirt a wet mess.

He was, admittedly, a little disgruntled when he was forced to leave his hoodie with Millie. She just wouldn't let go of the thing.

Ichigo had spent hours at her loft, conveniently situated above her shop, consoling the redhead before she fell into a fitful sleep only to wake up later and start the process over. Ichigo had taken to cleaning as much of the loft as he could: doing the dishes, sweeping the floor, dusting, organising movies, etc. He didn't pry into anything, not intentionally, but he did notice several journal that had been stuffed into a bookcase next to several trashy romance novels. He remembered thinking Millie didn't seem like one for writing her thoughts down, but then again, she didn't seem like one for teen romance stories.

Surprisingly enough the main room wasn't dark when he entered. Instead it was illuminated by the single light over the oven, casting long dark shadows over the twins who were cuddled together on the couch. His father sat at the table, a mug of something in his hands as he gazed at Ichigo intently. The teen scowled, knowing that if he was back home his dad would have hit him with a flying kick instead, but then again, his father's 'attacks' were becoming more scarce ever since the new year. He was curious as to why Karin and Yuzu weren't in there beds, and why his whole family was out in the main area this late, even if two were asleep.

Movie night, maybe?

"Welcome back, Ichigo," his father said softly, obviously trying not to wake the girls. It was weird hearing his father say the typical Japanese greeting, but Ichigo shrugged it off.

The teen grunted softly in response, placing his keycard on the counter. "Isn't it past your bedtime, goat chin?"

His father made a noise between a huff and a chuckle. "Maybe." He took a sip from his mug. "you were out late." It was a statement, but Ichigo could hear the question in it.

"A friend's grandfather passed," he replied, scowling lightly. "I was helping them out."

His father's expression twisted into something weird; a mixture of amusement, pride and confliction. For some reason, Ichigo didn't like that.

Another sip.

"I… I didn't know you had made friends here in England."

The fifteen year old shrugged. "We met 'bout a week ago, when I got the guitar. We've been hanging out since then."

His father hummed, nodding again as he set the mug on the table and laced his fingers together. His gaze intensified, and Ichigo fought hard to keep his casual, slouched position as he leaned on the counter.

"Are you sure they're safe?" His father's voice was low yet strong in a way Ichigo had only heard once before. "Last time you met new people…"

For a split second, the most fleeting moment in his life, Ichigo was happy, knowing that his father cared about his life and safety. He had known it, his dad _was_ his dad after all, but it was always nice to have confirmation. A warmed flickered in his chest, a remnant of his life with his mother and father when he was younger.

Then, that moment was gone, swept away by the wave of anger Ichigo was hard pressed to suppress.

"I can take care of myself, thanks." His voice was a growl, and a heavy scowl replaced his usual stoic one. Hesitation flashed in his father's eyes but was soon replaced with a steely resolve.

"My son," he started, his voice still low and heavy. He opened his mouth to continue, but visibly stopped himself and sighed. "I know you can, Ichigo, I know you can. But the last time you were out late, and making friends, Xcusion and the fullb-"

"Don't," Ichigo cut his father off, a single hand raised. He knew it was rude to cut off his elders, his parents had drilled that into him and that wasn't even counting for the fact that he had cut off his father, but right now the temporary silence was all that was keeping him from exploding. "Don't bring them into this. This is different and you know that."

"No, I don't!" His father spoke quietly but hotly, betraying his irritation and frustration. "You don't talk to me, Ichigo, and you don't even spend time with your sisters anymore."

The teen nearly growled. Why was the old goat bringing the twins into this? It wasn't like he could go and spill his heart and soul to them! They didn't even know anything about the supernatural other than that ghost exist. Not to mention the fact that their father was some ex-shinigami captain from the afterlife society of the Seireitei, which just so happen to be comprised of super powers shinigami who use swords to purify souls and fight corrupted souls. Oh, and let's not forget that the political structure, or the fact that their older brother fought in a war to preserve the balance of souls!

Yuzu would faint, and Karing would have him sent to an insane asylum.

Ichigo breathed deeply to calm himself, using all his willpower to prevent him from yelling..

"Why," he asked slowly, "would I go to you?" He let the question hang there for a second, taking his his father gobsmack expression. "You let me do everything on my own. I studied by myself. When mom died, I cooked for the family until Yuzu took over. I researched my way through puberty so that when the girls got their first periods I could help them. You left money on the counter and tried to hit me whenever you could. You didn't really help out until we were I'm the fake Karakura town, which, by the way, you still have yet to explain to me."

They sat there in silence for a while, Ichigo seething while his father stared at nothing, pensive and depressed. His father broke the silence first.

"I… I know I haven't been the best father, Ichigo, " he said, his voice choked and heavy. "I try, but… I'm sorry."

Ichigo nearly exploded there.

" _You're sorry_ ," he hissed, intent on verbally ripping the man across from him in half, but Karin shifted on the couch from the sudden volume increase. "Sorry doesn't cut it," Ichigo whispered hotly, causing his dad to flinch. "If it was just me, I could overlook it, but do you even know the Twins' hobbies? Did you know Karin's planning on trying out for the football team? Or that Yuzu likes to sing?"

He paused for a second, waiting expectantly. After a second his father shook his head.

"What about their favourite movies? Desserts? Do you know their friends?"

Isshin shook his head again, looking down at the mug on the table for several seconds, before locking eyes with his son's. "You're right, Ichigo. I know you are… and I'm trying to get better. Once we get back home I'll talk to Kisuke, and we can sit down and have a discussion. I'll lay everything out for you."

Ichigo's anger left him, leaving guilt to gnaw at him in it's place. Now it was his turn to glance away and sigh deeply. "Don't bother," he said, shoulders slumping in exhaustion; he suddenly felt very tired.

"W-what?"

"I said don't bother," the teen returned. "I know you're not ready yet, otherwise you would have told me already, and seeing Urahara again would only make me want to punch him in the face." His eyes flickered over to his dad's, seeing the older man give him an uncertain smile. "Besides…"

He trailed off, uncertain of himself, something his father picked up on quickly. "Besides, what, Ichigo?"

The teen averted his eyes again, preoccupying himself with taking in the simple but elegant decor of the hotel room. Should he tell him? It wasn't like it would change anything, and he had been putting off on telling his family for over a month now, and he didn't have much time left to waste. His father really didn't _need_ to know. But on the other hand, he _was_ trying to be a better father, the trip to England and even the talk was proof of that. Plus, no matter how much he disliked certain things about his father's style of parenting, Ichigo's family, Isshin included, had never let him down when needed.

The teen sighed again, running one hand through his orange hair. "I'm not staying in Karakura," he finally stated. A silence stretched between the two again, and before long Ichigo couldn't take it anymore and risked a glance at his father.

Isshin looked hurt and confused, and Ichigo's stomach twisted. "What?" his father asked, his voice hollow. "What do you mean?"

Ichigo shrugged, looking away again. "I graduated from middle school last December, and I had to send out high school applications. After everything that happened, I didn't, I _don't_ , want to stay in Karakura. So I applied to a couple of places, got accepted to a few and decided that I'd like to go to Homurahara Academy in Fuyuki City." Ichigo shrugged again. "Honestly, it has nothing to do with you, just… memories ya'know."

He glanced at Isshin, who was looking at him with the same confused and hurt expression.

"Look," Ichigo said before his father could say anything, "it's been a long day, it's late, and I just dropped a lot on you. Why don't we got to sleep and talk about this in a day or two?"

Isshin's gaze fell to his mug and he grasped it between his two large hands. He nodded sullenly, and Ichigo couldn't help but feel bad at how overwhelmed his father looked.

"I'll take care of the girls," Ichigo said as he pushed himself away from the counter and made his way to the twins. He crouched down, gently untangling their limbs before hoisting Karin into his arms and bringing her to her room she shared with Yuzu. He carefully slide her under the covers, giving her a light kiss on her head before heading back out and repeating the process with Yuzu. With one last glance he closed the door softly behind him.

His father was still at the table, staring absentmindedly into his not-so-steamy mug. The teen made his way to his own room, pausing when he grasped the handle, hesitating only for a second.

"Make sure you get some sleep, old man."

Without looking back he made his way into his room, shutting the door behind him.

* * *

Snow was falling heavily, crunching lightly under her feet as she made her way down the street, fiddling with the small card in her pocket. She was in a rather seedy neighborhood, with overly cracked pavement and dimming streetlights. Apartment projects lined the street to her rights, and across the street she could hear the thumping music of a back alley club.

Her destination.

She jogged across the street, taking note of how the group of three smokers on the corner seemed to huddle closer together as she drew near. Not that she could blame them. The buildings lining the street acted as a funnel, guiding the blowing winds down the road to slam into whoever was dumb enough to be outside. She couldn't help but grit her teeth as a particularly hard gust of wind knifed through her jacket, leaching away the small amount of heat she had left. God she hated winter, if only because the wind seemed to make the cold, _colder_.

She slipped a little as she made her way to the club door, but managed to regain her balance before she broke any teeth on the slush-covered cement. The rain from earlier today had already frozen under the snow, making any walking, or driving, that much more perilous.

The wind gusted harder, making her face and eyes burn. She shoved away the rising feeling of irritation, focusing on her steps to prevent any mishaps from happening on her dangerous journey of _twelve more fucking feet_ to get to the door. She made it, noting the lack of bouncer at the door, but once again couldn't really fault anyone for the decision; it was a bit nippy.

She opened the door, the music increasing dramatically in volume, and came face to back with a muscular giant, who visibly shivered when the cold gust of air hit him. The man turned, a cigarette hanging limply in his mouth as he grasped the open door in one meaty hand before he paused.

"Hoh?" he said, intrigued. "Shouldn't you be at home, drinking tea or something?"

She frowned, twitching as her anger exploded inside her, but she managed, barely, to keep her cool. Instead of responding she pulled the card she had been messing with out of her pocket and presented it to the behemoth. He took it, examining it for several seconds, face twitching, before looking down his nose at her again.

"A new recruit, eh? Well go on then, pipsqueak, I'm sure the boss would like to see you. Top box." He presented the card to her, yanking it back when she reached for it. "Try not to die, yeah?"

Millie swiped the card from his hands faster than he could blink, shoving it into her jacket pocket. "Yeah, whatevah," she said, stepping passed the man the smell of alcohol and tobacco heavy in her nose. The giant gave a rumbling laugh, behind her.

"I like her already," she heard him say, shutting the door behind her.

* * *

AN: Whatcha think? Let me know in a comment or PM. Also, I know I didn't put any Type-Moon terminology, but if you do notice that I wrote something incorrectly, on anything, feel free to tell me.

Thanks for reading, and I'll post the next chapter in a bit. ~VS


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Hey everyone, long time no see! So I'm not dead, which I personally take as a win in my book though I'm sure more than a few people are mad that it's taking me so long to update my stories. In the interest of keeping this author's note brief, I'll just say that not only does it take time (something that I usually don't have a lot of) to create chapters that reach my expectations, but I do have a life outside of writing fanfiction. SImply put, fanfiction isn't on the top of my priority list.

That being said, I have no intent of discontinuing any of my stories, so sooner or later another chapter will appear.

Thanks for being patient and I hope you guys enjoy the new chapter.

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or Fate/stay night.**

* * *

 **March 11** **th** **, 2014**

"Yer doin' it wrong."

Ichigo twitched, suppressing the urge to shoot a dark glare at Millie's reclining form. Knowing her, she'd just shoot him a glare just as vile or a condescending smirk, and he wasn't sure he'd be able to keep his cool after that. They had taken refuge in Millie's apartment, a surprisingly tastefully decorated loft situated above the pawn shop he'd first met her in. The weather had taken a turn for the worse in the last two weeks, and people naturally took refuge inside to ward off the cold.

Flexing the fingers on his left hand idly, Ichigo glanced outside the nearest window to gaze at the snow falling from the sky, illuminated by the orange glow of the street lights. It was late, surprisingly so, and Ichigo should honestly be back at the hotel room with his family, but couldn't bring himself to do anything more than entertain the idea of going back. He had recently divulged to the twins about his choice leave Karakura for high school; needless to say they had taken the news just as he had expected. Anytime Ichigo appeared at the hotel room while the rest of his family was there the tension skyrocketed to heights that hadn't been reached sense Kurosaki Masaki had died. As a result, he had been spending more and more time with Millie who had been pleasantly accommodating.

The two teens had spent most of their days together, and Ichigo had spent the last three days with Millie at her loft, using the sudden increase in snowfall as an excuse to bum out on her couch. She didn't seem to mind, honestly, thought she did make a fuss about having to cook for them earlier today so he had ordered some pizza for them earlier, the leftovers of which were left on the glass coffee table in front of him.

Rousing himself from his thoughts with a small shake of his head, Ichigo replaced his fingers on the neck of the guitar, placing his fingers on individual strings over two different frets about halfway down the instrument, he strummed with his right hand, drawing sweets sound from the cords. It started off well, just like it frequently did, and the teen was successful in changing the position of fingers, allowing the notes to flow into the only melody that he knew. Grinning slightly at his progress, Ichigo allowed his fingers to shift once again on the guitar, changing the notes once again and letting himself be taken away by the music that came into being by his own hands. He had made great progress on learning how to play the extremely popular instrument, learning notes and techniques from Millie and Youtube videos.

His fingers faltered, and Ichigo barely had time for his eye to twitch before the redhead looked up from her book with an expectant look.

"Yer doin' it wrong."

The pads of Ichigo's fingers throbbed painfully at her words and this time he did shoot a withering glare at the older teen. "You fuckin' do it then," he snapped, thrusting the guitar at her. Instead of getting angry like he expected, the fiery redhead gave a condescending smirk as she set down her book. She freed herself of her blanket cocoon, and took the guitar from the orange-haired teen. Resting the body on her thigh, she bent over the guitar, placing her fingers on the neck and started to play.

It wasn't the first time Ichigo had heard his friend play, but each time he did he couldn't help but be slightly awed. He knew he had taken great strides with the instrument, and in a short amount of time too, but he couldn't help but remember that there was a vast difference between talent and experience.

Millie's fingers moved up and down the neck with confidence born from practice, and the notes the sounds were clearer and more concise than Ichigo's. She played for a while and Ichigo could only watched as she played the song he had been attempting to play for the last couple of hours. The redhead continued for a while awhile, playing the whole song he had been trying to learn for the past couple of days, and letting the last notes linger in the air, before glancing at him and giving an increasingly familiar smirk.

Instead of getting angry at being one up-ed by the shorter teen, Ichigo just slumped back from his position letting himself sink into the cushion. Unbidden, a small smile came to his face. He shook his head. "No matter how many times I hear you play, it's always something."

Millie made a face that he learned meant she was trying to fight a smile. "Well, I play'd fer a long time," she said.

Ichigo quirked an eyebrow. "Why?"

She gave him a look that showed what she thought of his intelligence. "Why, what?"

He shrugged easily, already used to her glares. "Why did you play for so long, and then sell the guitar? I mean, you're good. Like really good. I'm sure you could join a band and get some cash if you wanted too."

She was silent for a while, a contemplative look on her face, so long, in fact, that he figured he'd struck a personal topic too early in their friendship and that Millie was formulating the correct string of insults to properly tear him apart. After a couple of minutes had passed, Ichigo was actually starting to get worried but didn't want to push her. Millie could be sensitive, and pushing her would only result in him looking and feeling like an ass. If she needed help, or break down again, he'd be there for her regardless. With that thought in mind, Ichigo burrowed himself deeper into the armchair and laced his fingers behind his head as he closed his eyes. He'd probably turn in soon, it was rather late.

"It was cause me mum died."

He opened a single eye to gaze at the budding woman not to far away. She was fiddling with the guitar, running her hands along the strings to draw light sounds from the instrument, her teeth worrying at her bottom lip. Ichigo sat forward to giver her his full attention, noticing how hesitant she was to speak which worried him. Millie was an extremely confident person and the only time she ever seemed hesitant was when she was rather emotional.

"She use ta play," she continued, fixing a lock of her hair behind her ear. "She taugh' me how, but when she…"

She trailed off, sounding extremely choked at the end, and Ichigo didn't hesitate to move over onto her couch and wrap an arm around her shoulders, gently moving the guitar so that it rested against the table. She leaned into him, her own arms wrapping around him as she pressed her face into the crook of his neck, shaking slightly. Having spent pretty much all his time with Millie over the last two weeks as she dealt with the death of her grandpa, Ichigo quickly fell into the routine he had developed. Rocking gently, he softly stroked her back while humming a lullaby. It was one his mother had used on him and his sister when they were younger. He didn't remember the words, but he did know the melody by heart.

Millie eventually calmed down and pulled back a little, using the oversized sweatshirt she had taken from him to dab at her eyes. The sight left Ichigo bemused, and he barely stopped himself from outright chuckling when she gave a big yawn. Right now the fierce redhead that he had first met was nothing but a rather adorable looking sleepy girl. To his surprise, she didn't get up and make her way to her room, but rather pressed herself closer to him, drawing her legs up to her chest.

"Y'know," she said, her words slurring. "Ah wanted ta be a supahsta…" Her grey eyes were unfocused, and she was obviously fighting with her eyelids for them to stay open.

"I'm sure you would have been the greatest superstar," he chuckled, getting a tired moan from the drowsy redhead, before she slurred something. "What?"

"... Wha'd bout you?"

"Me?" he asked, getting a nod from the older girl, though she could have just been snuggling closer to him, he wasn't sure. "Well, I want to be a doctor."

Millie snorted in amusement, obviously more awake than he gave her credit for. "You?" she snorted again, before pressing herself closer to him, letting out a sigh of contentment.

He wanted to be angry at her comment, but couldn't find it in himself to be anything other than amused. To her credit, he didn't look anything like an aspiring doctor would be, much less act like it so he couldn't really fault her. Plus, with how cute she looked, mouth slightly open as she dozed lightly her freckles standing out against her pale skin, he'd be hard pressed to even contemplate moving, much less an angry retort.

Not to mention the fact that he could *ahem* feel certain parts of her pressing against him. He was a teenager, damnit! A girl pressed against him pretty much left him a blubbering mess.

She moved in her sleep, shifting closer until she was practically in his lap causing strands of hair to fall around her face. One particular strand, rubbed against her nose which she scrunched in irritation. By this point it was obvious that Millie wasn't going to get up before the sun rose. Laughing internally at the faces the girl made, Ichigo used his free hand to gently move the hair that fell about her face, drawing his fingers along her cheeks as he did.

He watched her for a while, noticing how she she breathed in deeply before exhaling in a quick huff and how her lips quirked into a small grin, before breaking out of his borderline perverse thoughts. Shaking his head gently, Ichigo grasped her hips with one hand, using the other to slip under her knees. Moving slowly, he positioned his friend on her couch, drawing a remorseful ' _nooo'_ from her in the process. It took longer than it should have because Millie was rather clingy in her sleep and had gripped his shirt rather tightly, and getting her to release it was comparable to defusing an active landmine. Still, he managed to get her situated on the couch, her blanket covering her.

Ichigo found himself staring again, this time feeling slightly depressed. He and his family were going to be heading back to Japan the day after tomorrow, and he was sure he'd miss the temperamental redhead very much. Honestly, it felt like she was the only friend that he actually had. No, that wasn't fair to his friends back in Karakura. He had plenty of friends, but they had been exposed to a world that had taken a lot from him.

Too much.

They were too close to it, the source of his own aching discontent the resonated in his soul. He couldn't interact with them the same, not anymore. Keigo always asked pressing questions that he didn't know how to respond to, while Orihime and Uryuu always gazed at him with regretful or pitying eyes, something that infuriated him to no end. Chad, bless his soul, still tried his hardest to act as normal as possible to Ichigo, but there was a rift between the two now. A rift born from his lack of powers. That itself hurt him almost as much as losing his powers. They had become brothers in arms and even before that, Chad was the brother he had never gotten, someone who he wouldn't hesitate to give his life for, even now, but with the distance between them…

He sighed. Being with Millie really was a bittersweet pill to swallow. He knew that she was her own person, but being around her reminded him of the unique dynamic he shared with Rukia, no to mention her attitude reminded him of Hiyori at times, though she was infinitely nicer than the devilish Visored. It was unfair to try and compare traits he saw in her to people he knew before, and he honestly tried his hardest to make the distinction. Instead, he actively searched for things that made them different and came to find that they were just some of the several things that he liked about Millie.

Making his way over to the lightswitch, Ichigo turned off the lights, using the glow from the streetlights to navigate his way to the armchair. Situating himself comfortably, he banished all thoughts of his former experiences, and focused on going to sleep. He had to deal with Yuzu's cold shoulder tomorrow and he'd need all the rest he could get.

* * *

 **March 14** **th** **,2014**

As he thought, the trip back to Karakura was rather troublesome.

Not only was the trip super-convoluted (flying from London to Miami to LAX and finally to Tokyo, before barely making the midday bullet train that headed for Karakura), but he had to deal with his younger sister's glare in the back of his head, which he outwardly ignored. That probably wasn't the best move as it made Yuzu glare all the harder, but honestly after getting halfway to LAX he had stopped caring. He had his reasons for leaving, and she didn't even bother asking for them. Karin on the other hand had taken it upon herself to spend as much time with him as possible, weedling out a promise from him to help her practice soccer and at least two movie outings before they even got to Miami.

He wasn't too mad about it. He'd like to spend more time with his sisters before he left for Fuyuki City. Now if only Yuzu would stop acting like a brat…

His dad was a different story altogether, going out of his way to make sure he was out of _Ichigo's_ way, and throwing his son a forlorn look that looked disturbingly like a kicked puppy. Ever since their conversation the night Millie's grandfather died, Isshin had been distant and contemplative, offering advice when he felt the need to but, ultimately, letting his son choose his course. Sure, Ichigo was glad for the space, but he did love his father, and his new quasi-depression left him slightly worried for the girls, before shaking the feeling off. No matter what was going on in his life, Ichigo knew that his father would always be there for the twins.

The Kurosaki family arrived back in Karakura a couple hours before sundown, so they toughed out the rest of the day, lazing about their house and ordering takeout before going to bed. Ichigo had passed the time sending applications to apartment buildings for a studio in Fuyuki and unpacking before picking up his guitar for practice. That night, he slept like a log, glad to be back in own bed; though his wake up was weird, if only for the fact that he wasn't woken up in a weird way.

He blearily sat up, glancing around his room curiously, wondering why he felt like a piece of the universe had fallen out of place. Mid-morning sunlight streamed through his window exceptionally bright as it bounced off the light snow outside. He groaned, scratching his bare chest as his brain slowly rebooted, trying to figure out what was wrong, before it came to him.

' _Where's goat chin and his flying kick?'_

His eyes turned to the door, expecting his father to kick it open and charge at him screaming something incomprehensible. But it didn't come. Not even after several long moments of staring at his door did the usual comedy routine his father had imposed on him happen. Slowly getting up, Ichigo couldn't help but feel a little sad at the absence of his father's exuberant call to start the day.

Sighing it off, the teen stood and stretched, before grabbing a shirt from his dresser and heading out of his room in search of food. He was at the top of the stairs when the doorbell rang and halfway down when Yuzu answered. He heard greetings being exchanged and a question being asked, but couldn't really comprehend what they were saying. It was so weird not instantly being awake after sleeping, and Ichigo found himself slowly mastering himself.

"Sorry, Onii-chan's still asleep," he heard Yuzu say as he reached the ground floor. He shivered slightly, the draft from the open door was cold, though it did help lift the left over fog from his mind.

"No I'm not, Yuzu," he called, rubbing the sleep out of his eye. His voice was warped from slight disuse but he paid it no mind. "Who's asking for me?"

"Hey Ichigo."

He paused, blinking in surprise. He knew that voice. Ichigo lowered his hand letting him gaze at the heavily covered form of Tatsuki Arisawa. She was bundled up to combat the cold in a long red coat the cuffs of which she had rolled up slightly to show long pale purple sleeves while the inside of her coat was pale yellow. Underneath she wore leggings and brown fur-trimmed boots, an infinity scarf the same color as the inside of her coat was wrapped around her throat. Her cheeks were flushed from the cold, but she was smiling which was always a good thing.

Internally, Ichigo raised an eyebrow. It was kind of weird to see Tatsuki dressed like that. Not to say she didn't look good, because she did, but his oldest childhood friend was about as tomboyish as they came, so seeing her in anything other than a pair of jeans and dirt was kinda off putting. He still remembered how he didn't even recognize her the first time she wore a skirt in middle school. He had totally thought she would get her hands on a male uniform and wear that instead. It was still weird, but he'd grown to better at appreciating the different look for her.

"Yo," he said, beckoning her forward. "Come on in. It must be cold out there."

She smiled slightly, stepping inside while Yuzu moved back toward the kitchen, huffing when she caught sight of him. He rubbed her head when she walked past.

"Onii-chan!" Her face was flush with anger, her tiny fists trembling at her side. "Don't do that, I'm still angry at you!"

He rubbed her head again, only partially succeeding in suppressing a grin. She seem shocked at his action, before huffing and storming off, grumbling about stupid older brothers as she stomped to the kitchen. Not that that stopped him from seeing the small smile that came to her face.

"What was that about?" Tatsuki asked stepping next to him. It surprised him to see she was probably shorter than Millie, something he hadn't really noticed about Tatsuki. Not that he'd ever be able to make fun of her for it; while Millie would just kick his shin, Tatsuki would probably kick his ass until he ended up in Soul Society.

"Nothing much," he shrugged before gazing down at her. "You eat?" She shook her head, and Ichigo noticed that her hair was longer than it had been before he left, not by much, but it was noticeable. It looked good, and he suddenly wondered what she would look like with long hair. He must have been staring because Tatsuki's eyes narrowed.

"What," she asked, her voice hardening in defensiveness.

"Nothing," Ichigo replied, tearing his eyes away and heading toward the dining room table. "Come on, I guess you could bum out for breakfast." Tatsuki huffed indignantly behind him.

Breakfast went well, if it was a little quiet. Their dad had come down only long enough to grab some toast and tell his kids he'd be working in the clinic for a while. Yuzu started smiling with him around again, and he made sure to compliment her cooking simply to avoid her remembering that she should be angry at him and because her food was really good. Ichigo was the first to finish, and he left to take a shower, but told Tatsuki that he'd ready in about ten minutes if she wanted to hang out. Grabbing some clothes from his room, Ichigo made his way to the bathroom.

He probably took longer than he intended, but showers were a guilty pleasure of his, so he indulged himself a little and let the warm water soothe him. He was drying his hair when he stepped into his room, surprised to Tatsuki sitting on his bed, flipping through the journal he'd gotten from Millie's shop. She glanced up as he walked in, raising an eyebrow and the book.

"Shouldn't you have have porn like all the other guys?"

He scowled at her, unamused. "Ha ha," he drawled, throwing his towel into his hamper before leaning against the wall, arms crossed. Tatsuki grinned in response, and he belatedly realized that the pale sleeves he'd seen from under her jacket was actually part of a dress that fell down to her knees, a section of the cloth was missing, leaving her shoulders bare. "Didn't your mother ever tell you it's impolite to go through people's stuff?"

"I'm sure she mentioned it once or twice," she said, still grinning, "but I'm sure she wouldn't mind. It's just you after all."

Ichigo rolled his eyes at that, standing up straight and making his way over to his desk chair. Sinking down with little grace, he pinned his longtime friend with a questioning look. "So, whatcha need?"

She looked slightly offended, arching an eyebrow and crossing her legs in a way that Ichigo found to be surprisingly sensual. "Need?" she echoed, before frowning a little. "I don't _need_ anything. My friend just got back from an extended stay in another country, and I was coming to say hi."

He twitched, scratching the back of his neck, ashamed. "Sorry," he said. "I didn't… I mean…" He averted his eyes and sighed. "Sorry."

A small silence stretched between them. "It's okay, Ichigo," he heard Tatsuki say, and glanced up to see her giving him a smile which he returned hesitantly. "So how was England? Did you get this there?"

He nodded. "England was pretty great. The first week or so goat chin had us take a tour of the castles and sights around the countryside, but we spent most the time in London."

"And this?" she questioned, raising the book and waving it slightly.

"I got that at a pawn shop I visited. Same with the guitar." He pointed to the corner where the instrument was resting against the wall. Tatsuki gave an unladylike gawf.

"Following Chad's footsteps?" He just shrugged, getting a laugh out of his friend. He grinned, leaning back in his chair a little. A second silence stretched between them, less tense and more comfortable and Ichigo let himself sink into it.

"Ne, Ichigo?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm sorry."

He gazed at her inquisitively, though she refused to meet his eye. "What are you talking about?" His friend fidgeted from where she sat on his bed, gazing intently at her lap. "Tatsuki."

"It's just…" she trailed off for a bit, before taking a big breath. "Chad and Orihime told me everything." The words caused ice to form in his chest, and he frozen in place. By shock or anger or something else he didn't know, but Tatsuki forged ahead not noticing because she averted her eyes. "Well, I don't know everything, but they told me about Rukia and Soul Society, and Aizen, and how you lost your powers. They told me about Xcution and what happened." She paused again, but Ichigo was too stricken to reply.

She must have taken his silence for something else because she pressed on. "I really came to apologize. I said some horrible things to you when Orihime was taken, I even shoved your head through a window! And then when that Tsukishima guy ca-"

"Tatsuki." She stopped babbling, clenching her jaw shut so fast he was afraid she bit her tongue off. His hands were sweaty and shaky, and his chest ached, but he pressed forward, not liking how distressed his friend was. "It's fine."

Her head snapped to look at him so quickly, he was sure he heard a crack, but the astonishment in her brown eyes caused him to give a small despondent smile. He didn't like talking about anything related to Soul Society, not so soon after what had happened between him and Ginjō simply because it hurt whenever he did. He could practically feel a hole in his very being that he spent most of his time ignoring, but seeing his strong tomboyish friend babble out an apology while obviously hating herself for what she did, he just couldn't ignore the desire to assuage her worries.

"It's fine," he repeated. "I would have reacted worse if I had been in your situation when Orihime had been taken to Las Noches, and don't even think about blaming yourself for whatever happened with Tsukishima. His powers…" He sighed, scratching the back of his neck for lack of anything else to do as he tried to formulate his words correctly. His eyes wandered for a bit before locking back onto Tatsuki's. "Look, not even Chad or Orihime could put up a solid defence against that guy's powers, and the fact that he even targeted you, and everybody else was because of me. I wasn't ever angry at anyone for whatever they did or said when he was around because I know that wasn't what they would say or do. I was angry, yes, but more at Tsukishima for targeting my family and friends to get to me. _I'm_ sorry, Tatsuki. Because if it wasn't for me you wouldn't have had to go through that."

Throughout his whole spiel, he had locked eyes with his friends, trying to show her how incredibly sorry he was. It probably just came off creepy, but he didn't care. For the third time in less than five minutes a silence stretched between them, and Ichigo was honestly getting tired of them. Blatantly, he realized Tatsuki's shoulders were shaking, her bangs shadowing her eyes.

"You…" she spoke lowly, causing him to lean forward to try and hear her, or even offer comfort if she started crying. "You idiot!" faster than he could react, she had snateched a pillow from the head of his bed, and hurled it in his face, giving him a mouthful of fabric. He peeled the offending object off his face.

"The hell was that for!?" he yelled.

"For saying some stupid, self-deprecating shit like that!" She threw another pillow, which he swatted out of the air.

"I was being sincere you ass!"

"You're the ass, jackass!"

"Oh, what are you!? Five!?"

"Bite me!"

Ichigo stuck his tongue out, pulling the bottom lid of his right eye down.

"Aggghh!"

* * *

Somehow, Ichigo found himself walking through the streets of Karakura late in the day. The temperature had warmed up considerably, and a lot of snow had melted, though he was sure the water would freeze overnight. He'd spent the rest of his day with Tatsuki after Yuzu had started complaining about them being too loud. For some reason his friend had blushed a respectable shade of scarlet at the comment, but Ichigo knew better than to say anything about it. They'd gone and seen a movie, then got a late lunch before strolling through Karakura.

The sun was setting now, turning the clouds in the sky from white to yellows, reds, and purples. Beside him Tatsuki seemed to be in a good mood, grinning in a way that he had only ever seen when she won first place in the National Karate Tournament. He himself was grinning a little. Tatsuki had an infectious smile when it was genuine and she not her cocky ' _I just beat the living shit out if you_ ' smirk that she usually wore at tournaments.

"So," she said, drawing him out of his thoughts, "Did your uniform come in, yet?"

He gasped slightly in shock, his steps faltering at the question. He hadn't told her yet. Shit! He had just spent the entire day hanging around her, and totally forgot to tell her that he wasn't going to Karakura High School. She was so going to kill him.

"Ichigo?" she asked, gazing at him questioningly. "Whats- oh…"

' _Oh? Whats the 'oh' for?'_

It took him a couple seconds to puzzle out what she had noticed (Because she'd have made him eat her fist if she had already found out about him not going to the same high school as her), before he finally realized where they were.

It was the same place his mother had died, on the banks of the slow moving river that wound through Karaura.

"I'm sorry, Ichigo," Tatsuki said, sounding horrified. "I wasn't thinking when I led us down the road, if I had I wouldn't have-"

While Ichigo was grateful for the possible out, he didn't even have to think about lying to his friend. "Tatsuki," he cut her off. "It's not that."

She cocked her head sideways a little, a gesture that was extremely cute when she did it. "It's… not?"

He shook his head, gazing out over the sluggish moving river. "No." He paused for a second, contemplating how what he was about to say was going to ruin their relationship. Geez, he had only just gotten back into the swing of hanging out with her again, and now he was totally going to blow it. "It's that," the words stuck in his throat, and he could only wonder why he was having so much trouble telling her when he had practically shoved it down his dad's throat without a care.

"It's that what?" she asked, and Ichigo could hear the impatience creeping into her voice.

Gods above, it was now or never.

"I'm not staying in Karakura for high school."

"... What?"

He spilled to her then, telling her how when it came time for them to send out their transcripts he'd sent his to pretty much all the surrounding school and further with the exception of Karakura High. He told her how he didn't feel as if he could stay in Karakura seeing as it was so close to what he had lost now that he had a chance to get away. He even told her how he hated all the looks of pity he kept getting from Orihime and Uryuu, and the distance that had been put between him and Chad. How he despised the stupid questions Keigo and Mizuiro would ask, or seeing his friends run out of the classroom to deal with a hollow, but not before glancing at him as if he was made of glass.

"I'm sorry, Tatsuki," he said at the end of his rant gazing at the water resolutely. "I can't do it. I feel like they're expecting me to spontaneously combust, or cry, or develop powers and save the day again! I'm tired of it and I just… I just need to get away for awhile. And England helped a lot, but I know, _I know_ , that they won't stop if I went to Karakura High with them, so I decided to go somewhere else.

"I'm going to Fuyuki for school, I'm already looking for apartments there, and before you ask how I'm going to pay for it I already have that covered. Soul Society…" his voice falter a little, but he took a shuddering breath and continued. "Soul Society gave me a card for my ' _services_ '. There's a lot of money on it, so I can pay for it, but I'm thinking of getting a job instead so I can save money." He sighed again. "Look, I'm sorry Tatsuki, really I am, but I can't stay. And it's not like I hate you, or anybody for that matter, but it just… it just _hurts_ being here."

Snow crunched and he felt Tatsuki wrap her arms around him. "I get it," she said. "Well, not really, but I'm not going to yell at you or something. You have your reasons, and they sound pretty reasonable so…" she trailed off, her arms tightening around him. "Just don't forget about us. Okay?"

He wrapped his arms around her, grinning slightly. "I won't." They stayed like that for a while, before the started shivering as the temperature dropped. "Come on. I'll walk you home."

They were silent on the walk to her house, but it wasn't uncomfortable. It was cold though, with sudden gusting winds that knifed through their jackets and made their faces tingle. The trudged onward, arms linked together like a couple.

Ichigo tried not to think about that.

Not soon enough, the Arasawa house came into sight, and the duo redoubled efforts to get to it. They made it just when Ichigo thought he was going to lose his nose. By some unspoken agreement, Ichigo followed his friends inside.

He heard Tatsuki sigh contently when she closed the door behind him, face flushed and shivering lightly. The wind had been unexpectedly fierce and had turned her hair wild; not that Ichigo could talk, he was sure his own orange locks looked worse than usual. Shaking a little himself, he had to blink at the light that suddenly came on.

"Well come on, slowpoke" Tatsuki called already halfway down the hall, in her socks her jacket hanging from her arm. "I'll make us some hot chocolate."

Spurned by the promise of his favorite drink, Ichigo slipped his boots off which was quickly followed by his grey parka. Tatsuki's home was rather modern, with two stories, a low wall out front with a wrap around porch. The floors were wooden with the exception of the living room and bedrooms, but they weren't cold something he was grateful for. He made his way through the house, remembering the numerous times he had come over when he had been younger. With practiced ease, Ichigo flipped a light switch and placed his jacket on a chair without breaking stride, collapsing onto the low couch with a contented sigh.

It felt so good to be out of the cold.

Speaking of, he shot his dad a text telling him he would be home late if he was going to be back at all tonight. While the snow wasn't obscuring his vision, the wind could be rather deadly, and it was over two miles to get back to his house and he didn't want to walk in the wind. He could just call a taxi, but didn't really want to waste money on something so mundane.

Where's your mom?" he called curious.

"She's at work, or on a date, or something," was his reply.

He hummed. Her mom was dating now?

"Here you go," Tatsuki said, appearing as if out of nowhere, with two steaming mugs in her hands. Ichigo blinked. He must have been lost in thought as it usually took longer for her to make it. Shrugging to himself, he accepted the offers drink, before his eyes narrowed when he noticed the mugs. Her's was red with the name _Santa_ written in bold white. His was green with the words ' _Little Helper'_ in black. The smug look on her face told him that it was deliberate, but he let it slide and took a sip from his mug earning her a sigh of appreciation. Tatsuki's hot chocolate was second only to his mother's.

His friend flicked on her TV, and surfed through the channels quickly before settling on some movie that was vaguely familiar.

"Bunch over," she said, standing next to the couch and Ichigo just gave an exasperated groan. He gave to her glare but let it known that he didn't like it by moving as slowly as possible. It was so warm, he honestly didn't feel like moving; and not for the first time, Ichigo wondered if he was truly making the right decision to leave Karakura.

 **I'm Too Young to be Tired**

He woke to the sound of a door opening, eyes gazing blearily at the ceiling. The TV was still playing, though the lights had been turned off. When, though? He was bleary eyed and lethargic, not to mention the fact that his body felt heavier than usual. When had he fallen asleep?

There was shuffling and the distinct sound of a door shutting before footsteps started making their way toward him. He didn't know why, but he closed his eyes, feeling as if there was something wrong and if he had his eyes closed he'd avoid the fallout.

The steps faltered before, "Oh, Ichigo's here," reached his ears. It was obviously a woman, and he recognized the voice as Tatsuki's mother. Now that he thought about it where was his friend?

More steps, this time softer and slower than before until they stopped all together.

"Oh, they're so _cute_ together."

Ichigo fought his natural instincts to get up and reveal that he was awake, though his arm did twitch. ' _Wait. "_ they're" _?'_ He didn't get to contemplate it as more rustling reached his ears before the tell tale sound of a camera being used reached his ears.

"This is going to be great blackmail material."

He heard Tatsuki's mom move away, before her footsteps disappeared down the hallway. It was only when he heard the soft click of her room door shutting did he open his eyes again, squinting against the blue light of the television. Shifting slightly, causing a moan to break the silence that took Ichigo far too long to realize didn't come from him. He craned his neck to gaze at the black mess of hair on his chest. It was only when it started to shift did he realize that his chest hair wasn't black, or the fact that he didn't have chest hair at all. Tatsuki slowly regained consciousness, smacking her lips once, twice before gazing up at him through half lidded eyes.

"Ichigo," she asked, her voice no louder than a whisper.

"Hey, Tsuki." He had meant to say her full name, but his words slurred and he ended up calling her by the name he had called her when they were younger. Her head cocked again.

"Huh?"

That was really cute.

Her head cocked again, to the other side this time. "Really?"

Had he said that outloud? Oh well. He nodded.

She smiled sleepily. "Thank's Ichigo."

He grinned himself, shifting a bit to let his arm out from between him and the couch feeling the pinpricks from the appendage falling asleep. He raised it, gaze unfocused, wiggling his fingers to try and get feeling back into it, but it just flopped uselessly onto Tatsuki's lower back. His eyes refocused to take in Tatsuki's soft brown eyes, her black hair falling about her face. Raising his free hand, he swept the strands away, noticing how their faces seemed to be getting closer and closer.

Weird.

His eyes were closing again, but he wasn't feeling as tired as before. He could only think as to why for a split second, before the softest pair of lips he had ever felt pressed against his own. Not that he'd had another person press their lips to his, but such thought only existed for the briefest moment in the universe before being swept away a sudden increase in sensations.

His arm instinctively wrapped tighter around her waist, while his other hand had gotten lost in her hair. His lips moved against hers, possessing a mind of their own as they danced with the opposing pair. Tatsuki's breasts were pressed against his chest, and he couldn't help but relish in the feel of her body against hers. She wasn't the softest girl around, possessing muscle that most girls lacked but he liked that and she still felt exquisite on top of him.

Feeling a boldness born from drunken euphoria, Ichigo let his hand untangle from her hair and wander down her back before resting against her butt and giving it a good squeeze. She gasped and he instinctively introduced his tongue into the the battle, pushing it into enemy lines and invading her mouth.

She pressed against him as much as possible, moaning as their tongues dueled. Her hands which had been fisting his shirt, moved upwards to tangle themselves into his hair. He groaned, loving the feel of her nails lightly scraping his scalp, causing him to have a momentary lapse of concentration, something Tatsuki capsized on.

She diverted his tongue with a well placed parry of her own, and stabbed into his own mouth. He groaned heavily, breathing in her scent, but wasn't deterred. Placing both hands on her butt he pawed at them, squeezing and rubbing the taut flesh that left Tatsuki gasping in his mouth.

 _Ka-click_

They both stilled, pulling back as one to turn a stare at the person standing not too far away from them. It was Tatsuki's mom who was holding an old polaroid camera with a large smile on her face.

"I thought this would never happen, but I'm so glad," she said, throwing her long black hair over her shoulder, a slight almost unnoticeable blush on her cheeks. Ichigo was to mortified to think or even moved, his hands seemingly permanently glued to Tatsuki's bottom. His horror only skyrocketed when he felt something wet on his cheek and realized that he and his black-haired friend were connected by a string of saliva. "Just make sure you use protection, I'm too young to be a grandma. Though in nine months I guess-"

"KAA-SAN!"

* * *

 **March 20** **th** **, 2014**

Ichigo's last days in Karakura passed rather quickly.

After the mortification of having slept with and then proceeding to make out with one of his best friends and then being caught by her mom had settled from 'mortally embarrassed' to 'leave the country and never come back' Ichigo had slept in the Arisawa's guest room. He left the next morning after a breakfast filled with merciless teasing by Tatsuki's mother, but that didn't stop his friend from kissing him goodbye.

"I know you're heading to Fuyuki soon, so let's not put a label on… this. Just… just don't forget about me, kay?"

Unsure of what to say, he'd nodded, kissed her one last time and left.

Two days later Chad and Orihime stopped by to catch up. He'd confessed to them about going to Fuyuki instead of Karakura for high school. They put up a brave front, but he could tell they were saddened by his decision. Chad had barely said anything after his reveal and he was pretty sure Orihime had started crying as soon as she had left his house. He would have gone to comfort her, but Chad was there with her so he believed it was better to let that one go.

He had spent his days, keeping his promise to Karin and taking her and her twin to the movies. Yuzu had warmed back up to Ichigo, and pretty much clung to him whenever she saw him. He didn't mind, not really. He would miss his sisters, and more likely than not, he'd stop by when he was on vacation or something, but it would be the first time he spent a good amount of time away from them while he didn't have saving the world to distract him.

He was slightly down though. When he had left England, he had given Millie his phone number and told her to text him so that they could stay in touch, but almost a week later and he still hadn't gotten anything.

"Onii-chan! There's a package for you!"

"Be right down!" he called, finishing up the payment necessary for his studio. He had been lucky to find one in Fuyuki for rather cheap, though he would have to take the train to get to school. There were several that were closer, but the one that he chose was situated right on the outskirts of the downtown part of the city so he was rather close to several places that could give him a job and the supermarket. He stood up, placing his card and wallet and slipping them in his pocket. If he guessed right his uniform would have come in and he'd have to pay the shipping fee.

He was right and wrong at the same time.

The postman did have his uniform along with several boxes with arrows that pointed up on the side, though one he noticed was rather long for some reason.

"Kurosaki Ichigo?" the postman asked.

He nodded.

"Sign here please," he said holding out a clipboard that Ichigo took but hesitated to sign.

"What are all the boxes for? I didn't order anything other than the school uniforms."

The guy shrugged. "Dunno, it sounds like your problem to me. I was told that they were shipped from England. You gonna sign or what, kid."

Ichigo did, scowling all the while, and took the packages upstairs. Setting his school uniforms off to the side, he expected the boxes and noticed a piece of paper folded and wrapped inside a plastic cover taped to the top of the box. Freeing the paper from it's confines, he opened it and read.

 _Ichigo,_

 _How's it going? I know you probably get this less than a week after you get back to your house and will no doubt be tired of me, but I just thought I'd send some stuff over. I closed the shop, and sold pretty much everything to some sketchy rich guy that had been looking to buy the place. Anyway, I did save some stuff and I thought I'd send the things you might like over to you. The boxes are filled with all the medical books in the store and in my house. Most of them were my mom's._

 _She was a nurse before she died, wanted to be an anesthesiologist but never got the chance. Now before you try and send these back saying some shite about family heirlooms or whatnot, know that I have already moved out of the loft, temporarily, and will be traveling around for the job I just got so if you_ really _want to send them back, take care of them until I see you next. I do vaguely remember you saying you wanted to be a doctor (sorry about that), so they'll be of better use to you than me anyway._

 _Sorry about not texting you but I broke my phone and since I'm traveling I'll probably have a new one every three months. I still have your number, so don't worry I'll call eventually, but don't get attached to the number. If you do want to contact me, just send a letter to the P.O. Box number that I have listed on the back. It'll be forwarded to me._

 _Lastly, that long box is something special for you. I saw you looking at it and thought I'd send it over sense I wouldn't have a use for it._

 _Thanks for being a great friend._

 _Millie_

 _P.S. If you're wondering how I got your address I just looked up your clinic on the internet._

Ichigo couldn't help but chuckle at himself. And here he was worrying that the midget had forgotten about him. Grinning, he carefully folded the letter and set it on his desk next to the still packaged uniforms. They would be taken with the rest of his stuff to his apartment in Fuyuki tomorrow. ' _Along with my new plethora of medical books,'_ he thought with slight amusement, gazing at the boxes at the foot of his bed. He himself would follow his belongings the day after with an overnight bag. His gaze fell on the long box that rested next to his half folded blankets, curiosity peaking.

' _Now what could you be?'_ he wondered, reaching out…

"Onii-Chan!"

He jolted slightly, his head snapping to the door his senses on high alert and body tense. That was Yuzu. Was she in trouble?

"Onii-Chan," she called again, "Are you going to help be with dinner tonight or not!"

The tension his his shoulders and legs drained away in an instant, and he sighed tiredly. He had forgotten that he'd agreed to helping Yuzu make dinner tonight to save himself from having to buy her several tubs of ice cream. Sighing, he gave one last glance at the box on his bed and before standing and making his way toward his door.

"I'm on my way Yuzu!"

* * *

 **March 22** **nd** **, 2014**

Getting to Fuyuki City was going to be a pain all the way around.

Fuyuki was located in the Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, while Karakura was based several dozen miles west southwest of Kobe on the northwestern shore of the Osaka Bay. It was roughly 680 kilometers or about 423 miles between Kumamoto and Hyōgo, the prefecture that Karakura was in. Hyōgo was located on Honshū, the largest and main island of Japan, and it usually took about eight hours by car to get from his place all the way to Fuyuki an island away. Luckily there was a series of trains that could do the same thing in less than half the time, and Ichigo found himself speeding east through Hyōgo at just passed midday.

The goodbye's had been as emotional as anyone could assume they'd be. Yuzu had bawled and clung to him like a leech, while Inoue had put on a surprisingly strong front and even managed a smile when he boarded his train. Chad had been as silent as Ichigo had ever seen him, but still had bumped fists with him. Karin and Tatsuki had grown misty eyed, though his friend had clung to him tighter than his sisters had.

He had been tempted to kiss her again but decided against it. It would just turn into a huge spectacle, not to mention she hadn't tried talking to him about their moment several days prior.

His father was the last to say goodbye, giving Ichigo a tight squeeze over his shoulders before slipping a velvet box wrapped with a black bow in his hands.

" _It was your mother's,"_ he had said. " _I'm sure she would have wanted you to have this."_

It was the very same box that Ichigo had found himself gazing at. He didn't have much memorabilia of his mother besides her Shakespeare books and the large poster his father had put up above her shrine. Still Ichigo couldn't help but feel warmed as he stared at the box in his hands, feeling as if he was somehow closer to his mother than he had been. He might have been distant from his father, but he couldn't help but warm up to the man a little at the gesture. Despite this, though, he still found himself wary to even open the box. He didn't know what the velvet container held, but he couldn't help but feel that it was going to be something that was big, maybe even life-changing.

An hour passed with Ichigo alternating between gazing at the box in his hands and the passing countryside, not making any headway on figuring out the secret contents of the small box. It was only after he had disembarked and transferred from one train to another that he finally wound up the resolve to open his fathers present.

The black bow was made of silk, and felt like water in his hands. They trembled slightly, and Ichigo idly wondered if his father had been the one to tie the black band, but quickly discarded the idea as unimportant. The bow was off, the silk fabric snaking from his lap and onto the seat next to him. He hesitated again when his hand touched the lid, but only for a second, before breathing deeply and removing the cover.

Inside was a quincy cross.

It took him a second to recognize it as he had only seen Ishida's before. His had been stylized slightly, with curves and blunted tips that made it possible for the interior of the cross to be engraved with designs. This one looked more like a silver plus, though the cross section was just noticeably off center. It wasn't stylized or anything, just a plain silver cross; in fact the only way that he knew it was a quincy cross was because of the four pieces of metal that connected around the converging epicenter of the cross in a circle. That was really the only thing that was the same as Ishida's but Ichigo was positive that he was looking at a quincy cross. Sure, it could just be a coincidence or something, but he didn't think so.

" _It was your mother's."_

The words came to him as if his father had spoken to him from a distance, letting the wind carry his words to his son's ears. It took several seconds, too long really, for Ichigo to really comprehend the words that rang in his ears. Even though it wasn't a hard concept to grasp, it still took far longer than it should have too click.

But then it did.

' _My mother was a quincy!'_

It took all of his considerable resolve to not faint then and there on the train.

Now Ichigo considered himself to be a rather controlled person, but even Byakuya would have been hard pressed to keep a cool façade at the revelation. Ichigo's hands were trembling worse than before, and his body felt as if it was on fire. Distantly, he recognised this and attempted to master himself.

' _Okay, Ichigo. So your mother was a Quincy, big deal. Ishida's a quincy, and so is his dad. It's nothing to worry about.'_

The orange haired teen to several deep, shuddering breaths, and managed to bring a measure if composer to himself, before noticing the small note that had gone unobserved while Ichigo was having a meltdown. It was written is his father's surprisingly neat script.

 _Come to me when you want the full story._

Ichigo world threatened to fall apart at the seams.

His father, the shinigami

His mother, a Quincy.

Him, a shinigami/Quincy/human with a hollow.

He was overheating, he realized. He was breathing raggedly, and he seemed to have broken out in a cold sweat. The quincy cross filled his vision, and there was a weird, muted ringing in his ears, like he was hearing white noise through cotton balls.

With extreme force of will, Ichigo slammed the velvet box shut, stuffing it into his bag above his seat. It was too much, way too much to have thrust on him on a simple train ride. He needed to think, and he needed time to think and try an puzzle out everything in his life that he thought he had an understanding of and several facets that he didn't even know existed.

Why hadn't his father told him earlier about him being a Shinigami or his wife being a Quincy? How was she still alive when they met? Weren't all the Quincy killed with the exception of a few? Where there others? How did his mother die from a simple hollow if she had her own cross? What did this mean for him? What about the girls? Were they shinigami/quincy hybrids who will develop powers when they turn fifteen? Did anybody else know? And how did Urahara fit into all this, cause there was no way that man didn't know about a shinigami/quincy family living in the same town that he did. Did Ishida's father know about him as well? Why give him the cross now? He was powerless.

Ichigo needed time to fully come to terms with the new revelation and mull over his questions. Luckily, the train wouldn't pull into Fuyuki for another hour and a half, so he had enough time to center himself and organise his thoughts.

* * *

By the time his train pulled into Fuyuki Station, Ichigo had managed to mostly remaster himself by doing what most people did: ignoring the problem. So he disregarded the fact that his overnight bag felt a million times heavier than the last time he had picked it up, and instead focused on trying to find his apartment building. Now, Fuyuki was split in half by a river, the aptly named Mion River if Ichigo's twenty minute self-imposed geography lesson was correct. The train station that Ichigo disembarked at was on the eastern side of the city. It was no secret that the residents of Fuyuki considered the eastern and western part of the city different 'towns'. The eastern section, the one Ichigo was at, was considered Shinto town, the modern central hub for business activity in Fuyuki which Ichigo found odd as he always associated the word 'shinto' with a more traditional sense. Homurahara Academy was on the west end of the western part of the city Miyama Town. This was the more traditional part of Fuyuki with shrines, larger more traditional houses and even a temple situated on a rather tall hill.

Ichigo's new residence was located outside of a large shopping district in Miyama town, across the big bridge and high enough that he could see the sea to the north.

None of that meant anything to the young Kurosaki who knew he'd find himself lost within the first five minutes. So, instead of just heading out at random, he just asked a nice elderly couple for directions. It was a bit of a walk apparently, but the sun was still high in the sky and after being stuck on the train for the last couple hours, Ichigo welcomed the chance to stretch his legs.

He quickly learned that Fuyuki was something straight out of a postcard.

It wasn't super big like Kyoto or Tokyo or Ōsaka, but Fuyuki was a decently sized city, larger even than Karakura. Not to mention the residences spread out over several kilometres of land outside of the city proper or even the forest in Miyama Town, this left the city with an overabundance of picturesque scenery. It was probably just over an hour after disembarking that Ichigo first stepped foot into Miyami Town, still trying to get over how ridiculously sparkly the Moon River was on clear days like this. He was supposed to turn right, and head north for a couple blocks until his building came into sight, but his stomach growled and the stand at the end of the block looked rather enticing. He made his way there, nodding politely to the mother and her exuberant child as he passed.

He made it halfway there before he was interrupted.

"Hey, Kei! Look! His hairs orange, isn't that crazy!?"

Ichigo internalised a groan, stopping in his tracks.

There was a laugh behind him. "You're right, bro," another said, presumably this Kei character. "It reminds me of my older brother when he was younger. He was such a delinquent back then, always looking for trouble." The two laughed.

As he spoke, Ichigo heard him and his companion get closer until they were right behind him. A hand found perch on his shoulder, and Ichigo turned his head slightly to gaze at the teen with a dispassionate stare.

"Oh, look at the glare on this one," the second one said, a grin coming over his face. "He really looks like a delinquent." Kei laughed again, showing slightly yellowed teeth.

"Oi!" the first one called from Ichigo's other side. "You're new here ain't ya? No I think I'd remember seeing you before."

"Looks like we have a new delinquent in town, bro."

"That's bad for him," the first said, and Ichigo could imaging some greasy haired teen about his age shaking his head in false sympathy. "That's really bad for him."

"You're right, Miki," Kei said, a darker look coming over his face. "Cause, see, we're the big bad delinquents in town, and we don't like newbies coming in on our turf."

"Especially ones with orange hair," Miki said.

A vain under Ichigo's brow throbbed. It was always the hair.

"Now usually," Kei continued, "we'd just beat the shit out this new guy. Gotta teach him a lesson right?"

"Right."

"But we're feeling generous today. Right?"

"Right."

Here the grip on Ichigo's shoulder tightened, and Kei leaned in to whisper into his ear. "So why don't you get down on your knees and say ' _Thanks for being so merciful, Kei-sama! Thanks for being so thoughtful Miki-sama!'_ Then we might just let you go with your pretty-boy face in one piece."

Another vein throbbed under Ichigo's brow. Slowly turning his gaze from Kei to his surprisingly bigger counterpart Miki, he let his gaze wander across the street to see the people, while still going about their business, were watching the proceedings with caution. Making up his mind, Ichigo huffed, tearing his shoulder out of Kei's grip, and making his way to the nearest, alley.

This would only take a second.

* * *

AN: So what do you think? Feel free to leave a comment and let me know.

Now just to address some things. One of the reviews revealed a pretty cool easter egg that I didn't expect anyone to get so soon, so kudos to _general zargon_ for catching it.

Now I know some people might be concerned that I'm going to move the romance in this story too fast, especially after the scene with Tatsuki, but rest assured that while that will definitely be a factor in this story, it won't be a spontaneous thing, and that specific screen has importance for later in the story.

Lastly, I left the url to my inspiration to Tatsuki's outfit below if anyone is interested.

. 

Until next time! ~VS


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